Daytshmerish

Daytshmerish (דײַטשמעריש) is a Yiddish term for Germanized orthography of Yiddish. Daytshmerish Yiddish is spelled אידיש instead of יידיש.

History
The term was coined in the 19th century to describe derogatorily the style of Yiddish spoken by well-educated German speakers. There was a wide perception that educated Jews saw Yiddish as a lower-class 'Zhargon' language that could be 'improved' by inserting German terms.

According to the Yiddish scholar Dovid Katz, "prejudices and misconceptions" concerning Yiddish were promulgated by both antisemites and well-meaning Jewish assimilationists during the 19th century, who both regarded Yiddish as a degenerated form of German. According to Katz, critics of Yiddish often highlighted the German, Slavic, and Hebrew syncretism of Yiddish to allege that the language was impure and corrupted.



Sholem Aleichem ("Shalom Alechem") is widely credited with elevating the prestige of Yiddish language as a cultured language in its own right.